I'm with Melannie on this one! You go girl!
My friends and family also know what I do for a living. I am very open about it. Although I am careful to keep my personal identity and my escort identity separated so as to not open the door for stalking or drama, I am not shamed of this line of work. Just like professionals in other fields do not need to hide their identities, I do not need to hide mine. I am proud to be a sex worker and this industry is my dream career. I walked away from a potential career in engineering wherein I was being recruited by dozens of companies and the US military's nuclear engineering department to enter this line of work because it's truly what I wanted. A decade ago I decided it's what I would love to do with my life and five years ago, I took the plunge and this journey began. No regrets!
Shaming sex workers is disgusting, and shaming sex workers for refusing to hide our faces in shame is equally disgusting. This is not to knock any lady who chooses not to show her face out of concern for her own privacy, as some ladies are not in a position to feel as confident about their futures as I feel about mine. For me, five years in this industry has taught me an invaluable amount of skills that are recyclable into different segments of this industry. This is my career. Yes, someday I will retire from being an escort, but I will never be ashamed of this career and will most likely just re-enter a different segment of the sex industry. I could screen for other providers, start a website like ECCIE, make a film about my life in this industry, become a sex worker rights activist and/or lawyer, open a health clinic for sex workers, etc etc etc. My future is in no way shot because I am open about being a sex worker. I have written articles about sex work and a google search of my legal name also connects me strongly to the sex industry. I don't ever want to work for anyone again anyway. I'm an independent lady, a business owner, an entrepreneur, and a motivated self-starter who is extremely savvy about marketing. When I move on from this line of work, it will be onto something even better, not to wage slavery for some boss somewhere. I don't ever want to work for/with anyone who would discriminate against a former sex worker anyway. Better to know up front that they are whorephobic so I can avoid association with them. That's one major reason why I am very open about what I do in my personal life.
One major reason why I show my face is that I don't appreciate objectifying myself with images of a faceless body. I am a human being and I appreciate that having my face in my images reflects this. I like to make eye contact with the camera to remind potential clients that I am an engaging person and not just a body to play with. It's a very intentional decision and I wouldn't have it any other way.